Elevate Your Restaurant Brand: Convert Value into Loyalty

Now that the summer of the value meal has ended, what will autumn bring for QSR brands? Will they be able to capitalize on the good will and traffic boosts as the weather gets cooler?

To learn how operators can take a forward-looking approach and ease customers back into a profitable pricing model, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine reached out to Hope Neiman, CMO at restaurant ordering and loyalty platform, Tillster, which works with brands like Baskin Robbins, Popeyes and Burger King.

Neiman highlights the role of technology-powered tactics such as upselling menu add-ons and optimizing digital ordering in addition to using collected data to better meet the needs of the still-value conscious guest.

If everyone is advertising “value,” is it really value?

Value pricing will eventually become a less effective tactic for restaurant brands with the market becoming oversaturated with discounted options. After all, if diners can get a $5 meal deal anywhere, brands must give them a reason to choose their $5 meal deal. To do so, they must evaluate how value can be derived outside of price point. The real winners of the value war will be restaurants providing value in non-monetary ways through tactics like menu innovation, hyper-personalization and providing seamless digital ordering experiences that appease convenience-driven diners. 

How long do you anticipate the value trend continuing?

I don’t see the trend slowing down anytime soon, especially with brands like McDonald’s extending promotions and working on long-term value strategies. The value menu trend has been a domino effect – the more restaurant brands introduce deals, the more others will follow. Operators know it’s becoming a crucial part of staying competitive to price-conscious customers as inflation and other macroeconomic factors influence spending habits. 

Brands must slowly ease diners back into full-price expectations through strategic upsells and add-ons, and technologies like kiosks and mobile ordering will play a huge part in allowing brands to seamlessly do so.

Value deals have trained customers to spend less, so reversing this effect won’t be an immediate fix. Brands must slowly ease diners back into full-price expectations through strategic upsells and add-ons, and technologies like kiosks and mobile ordering will play a huge part in allowing brands to seamlessly do so.

How can a brand develop a valuable value program that builds relationships and encourages people to come back even when prices change?

Restaurant brands should take advantage of increased foot traffic by collecting and analyzing patterns in consumer dining behavior. For example, operators can analyze popular menu items, high and low foot traffic dayparts and other patterns to help guide decision making. Analyzing and acting on consumer data allows brands to provide personalized coupons, offer promotions during lower foot traffic times and build a data-driven loyalty strategy even after the promotions are done.

Brands can also use value promotions to analyze what’s working and what needs improvement from an operational standpoint. For example, we’re seeing the value trend call for a wider need within the QSR industry for cash kiosks. Brands should lean into opportunities to pressure test operations, looking at areas like digital ordering capacity, kiosk and in-store ordering flow and ordering channel efficiency. 

What are mistakes you see brands are doing in crafting value meals and how can they change course now?

The biggest mistake brands can make when crafting value menus is approaching them as a short-term strategy. Instead of using value menus as a quick fix to boost revenue or foot traffic, brands should use these promotions to better understand their customers and use those learnings to form long-term loyalty strategies. Operators must consider how they can strategically ease customers back into full price menus.

Brands should lean into opportunities to pressure test operations, looking at areas like digital ordering capacity, kiosk and in-store ordering flow and ordering channel efficiency. 

For example, brands can add value and take extra wallet share by providing a special offer or discount for an additional visit. While brands run value menu promotions, they should be focusing on areas like menu innovation, loyalty program strategy and strategic price increases – all areas that will create long-term revenue growth. 

What role does technology play in creating a value proposition for guests?

When leveraged with the guest experience in mind, technology holds immense potential for both delivering value to customers and creating brand affinity. Guests demand convenience and aren’t settling when it comes to ordering options – they’ll choose brands that provide them with seamless, reliable and convenient ordering processes that fit into their lifestyle needs. Drive-thru innovation, omni-channel ordering and kiosks are a few areas brands are heavily investing in to meet this demand.

When brands integrate modernized digital and mobile ordering capabilities into their operations, they can expect to reap an abundance of benefits from doing so. Additionally, by using consumer data collected through these ordering channels, brands can view customers more holistically. When analyzing guest behavior, brands can propose higher or full price offers to a guest when appropriate and provide value offers at other occasions. 

Kiosks are another technology that have quickly become a favorite among diners, as they allow for a streamlined and personalized ordering experience. Guests can not only choose their level of human interaction, but also enjoy a private ordering experience free from time constraints, pressures and long lines. While some guests still prefer to order at the counter, the biggest value add is that kiosks give diners the option to choose their ordering experience with each visit. 

Brands can also leverage digital loyalty program capabilities to enhance the customer experience by matching their preferences. By leveraging guest data like browsing history, ordering patterns and visit frequency, brands can strategically offer personalized coupons that encourage return visits and make guests feel valued. To entice customers to sign up for and engage with loyalty programs, operators can offer digital-only coupons and perks. This comes in handy especially as brands start to pull back on value deals and become more selective with their value-based strategy. 

What goes into making a long-term promo strategy/loyalty program that works for brands and guests?

There are several important aspects that go into building successful long-term promotional strategies and loyalty programs.

Having the flexibility for menu and offering differences that are highly localized can make a real difference when driving revenue. 

The first is the importance of analyzing and acting upon data at all scales to inform your strategy – this is something I cannot stress enough. Data at different levels yields different results, so when building promotional strategies and loyalty programs, it is critical to ensure you are taking all the data into account. Brands are seeing significant variations in customer behavior across the country and even store to store. Having the flexibility for menu and offering differences that are highly localized can make a real difference when driving revenue. 

The second aspect is the diner ordering journey. This is concept dependent, of course, and is a balance between having too few and too many ordering steps. Of the diners who are using phygital ordering channels, there are two main categories: beeliners, those who know exactly what they want and order quickly, and explorers, those who want to explore the menu to see all the options. Brands can’t alienate either category, so building an ordering journey that has enough optionality to explore more options while also allowing guests to quickly order their food is important. In each case, there are unique ways of building experiences that keep that guest coming back, establishing “Loyalty with a big L” and not just loyalty programs.